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Thursday, 8 September 2011

Harrogate 2011 - my goodies!

As promised I'm back to show you what I bought at the show - I think I was quite restrained but that was mainly because I didn't see lots and lots that tempted me so it was very easy to stick to my budget. One stall had a lovely range of fabrics but they were all in half metre lengths and whilst I may have bought a couple of fat quarters of ones I liked I didn't want half a metre of it - I like to get a variety of fabrics with my 'show budget'! I'm sure they would have cut me a long quarter if I'd asked but the cutting table was very busy and time was getting short. The other thing I noticed (and I'd be interested to find out whether other people that went felt the same) is that a lot of the stalls seemed to be offering the same fabrics and weren't very 'me'. I went looking for stripes and dots (with permission to buy a fat quarter or two of owl fabric if I saw some) and I really struggled to find what I wanted. It was lovely to walk round the stalls and chat to the vendors and see different things but I was struck this year by the difference between what was on the stalls and what I see online. Having said all that I'm pleased with what I got and the prices were very reasonable - the most I paid for a FQ was £2.50 and most were under £2, I do like a good bargain!

I had exactly £1 left at the end of the day!!

The FQs are intended to add to my HAL stash, I've been wanting some smaller piecing needles for a few months and the larger cuts are 3m of grey dot for the back of my HAL quilt (£20!) and half a metre (£3) of pink, also for the HAL quilt, either the front or the back! The blue and white stripe was the only two tone stripe I found - I think I may need to look online. If anyone has any ideas of where to look or a line of fabric to look at I'd be very grateful - I'd prefer to buy from the UK but maybe now is the time to try buying from the US! I have no idea how much fabric I'll need for my HAL quilt but I really think one more stripe and one more dot would do it!

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my 'Going in circles' quilt. I appreciate and treasure every one - it's so nice to know that other people like it! If any of you are thinking of entering a quilt in a show please do - if you need a little encouragement let me know and I'll give you a shove gentle nudge! It was noticeable that there were fewer quilts (especially bed quilts) entered than last year - if we don't enter the shows we'll lose them. Heck, if I'm not careful I'll be marching through the streets with a placard ;o)

I know I was going to mention my thoughts on the show but that's tricky without photos. There were lots of lovely quilts to admire (and some gorgeous miniatures - a very small category in all senses!) and exhibitions by Sandie Lush (her sweater quilts - wow! I was lucky enough to be taught to hand quilt by her a couple of years ago and when she showed us her work the room gasped!), Frieda Oxenham (wow, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!), Maggie Davies (oh my, those Hawaiian style quilts!), Pam Bono (oh, the wonderful quilting!) and Susan Briscoe (a beautiful range of quilts and fabrics - I loved them!) as well as some great group exhibitions. So much to see and admire!

Just to prove that I'm doing more than hexies here is another project I have on the go - I started it towards the end of July while I was waiting for my HAL fabrics to arrive...I got two City Weekend charm packs last year in a sale and couldn't resist them but they've languished in my sewing room ever since as I couldn't decide what to use them for! Last time you saw the squares drying on the bathroom tiles (so much easier than putting a towel on the floor and then leaping over it every few minutes!) and yesterday they went from this

Squares trimmed on two sides, ready for printing

to this

I'd add the link provided so you could look at them in Flickr but I can't get it to work so here's a link to the set instead!

I used a method called Inklingo which is a method of printing the pieces on the back of the fabric - if you look closely you can see the solid cutting line and the dashed sewing line and the match points along the sewing line.

These DP blocks will eventually join my other DP blocks to make a quilt...I'm not sure how I'm going to organise them yet but I'm keeping an eye on Susan's blog to see what she does with her Brit Bee blocks - I like the idea of sashing them - thanks Susan!

Gosh, this was going to be a short post, sorry about that! I've finished another few hexies but I'll save them for next time - I want to get my new fabric washed and ironed so I can start using it!

I'll leave you with a photo of Archie enjoying the afternoon sun

And proof that blogging does change the way you think...early this morning (early for me, I know lots of people would have been up and about by then!) I woke and noticed the room was filled with orange light so I got up for a look. I thought "That'd make a great photo for my blog" so I dashed downstairs for the camera, took some photos from my bedroom window and went back to sleep - how's that for dedication?!

3 minutes later the sun was up and this gorgeous sky was gone...

I hope everyone else had such a beautiful start to the day...

P.S. I tried again today to find a shop to sell my Wonky quilt but have had no luck - one place only takes textiles if they'll fit in a display cabinet and the other place really liked it but didn't think the people that come to her shop would be willing to pay what it was worth...next step - decent photos then try online!

13 comments:

I don't think they have any quilt shows in my area. I bet if they do they are either very traditional or very art quilty. I now imagine you walking the streets with a quilted placard. Great show swag too!

Love your wonky quilt (went to check it out), and thanks for sharing about the quilt show. Also, thanks for your kind comment.. I am feeling much better today.. just weak but on the mend! That was a beautiful sunrise. :)

You're a v.frugal shopper! Looking forward to seeing your DP quilt. I'm sure you're already expert at sewing them, but if you need one, Verry Kerry Berry has a fab video tute on sewing DPs. Sorry you've had no take up for your quilt. Keep trying! Someone out there will buy it. Jxo

I wrote a post earlier this year about visiting five quilt shops in the US and how trad. the fabrics were. So I don't just think it is in the UK. The really funky stuff seems to be the preserve of online retailers.I order all my fabric from US stores but am v lucky because there are no import taxes where I live. Only extra is the postage.

I visited the euivalent show In Edinburgh in the Spring and was deterined to buy some new funky fabric, but really, all the usual suspects were there selling the same old same old, except for one trader who was an ebay seller. From experience of working in our local fabric shop, the modern stuff is creeping in very slowly - our customer base is still pretty trad.

Loving your bargain fabric, you work with such lovely soft and gentle colours! It's such a shame about the photography restrictions, surely blogs etc are good publicity? Oh well, maybe next time. Do put your wonky quilt on TheFabricMarketplace.com, at the very least as one of your 'selling locations', it will brighten it up! ;)

Somehow I missed your previous post...ugh, must've been sewing TBs. I love how soft your fabric choices are, how do you find them? I am always going towards the big bright things! It is sad to hear that quilts aren't having as much of a presence as in prior years. I feel like here in the US only certain parts of the country have a Quilt focus while others...not so much. Very frustrating. I'll placard with you.

You let me know when you go the online route...I'll hold your hand and give encouragement should you need a nudge. ;)

Ahhhh! DPs!! That's on my list of shapes to print out :)) Just got to find the right fabrics. Waiting to see the perfect collection so I can buy some charm squares of it.I was at Harrogate show many years ago now. It was huge in comparison to the Edinburgh show last year that I went to on my way home from Spain. I like to buy a lot of variety too for my money. There's a nice online shop in Wales. Cross-Patch.http://www.cross-patch.co.uk/index.htmThey have the best price on layercakes that I've seen in the UK. I haven't bought much yardage from them though. I usually buy that from the states. It usually works out cheaper even with postage. Okay I'm writing you a book here ;) Thank you for your visit to my blog and lovely comments. Elly